Derek Pauling of Biffs Inc., a 55-employee portable restroom company in Shakopee, Minnesota, firmly believes that one of the best things the company ever did was hire a management consultant. “We have always been very interested in team building,” he says, “and having the right person be in the right place at the right time.”

In 2005 the company, owned by Derek and his sister Heather, contracted with Melissa Albers from The Authentic Leader, who did a personality profiling assessment on everyone in the company. “The Authentic Leader uses Ngenio personality tools to help us understand ourselves better, how to understand others and how to motivate our team members in order to have a positive impact on our business performance,” Pauling says.

It wasn’t a quick fix. In fact, Albers worked with the team for about three years and Pauling feels the company was much stronger as a result.

“One of the things we learned was where everybody’s strengths and weaknesses were and where our natural tendencies are,” Pauling says. “Understanding everyone’s personality has significantly catapulted our ability to work together.” As an example, he says, Heather is more introverted and detail-oriented, while he’s more outgoing and focused on the big picture. Instead of getting frustrated with each other, they’ve learned to value their differences and lean on each other’s strengths.

“If a blind spot for me is a detail I can’t keep up with, Heather’s going to understand and not be upset because I missed it. Whereas she’s going to be focused on the details and I’m going to try to bring her back to a bigger picture.”

The company brought Albers back in 2012 when the former owners, Pauling’s parents Mike and Diana, were getting ready to transfer ownership of the company to Derek and Heather. She helped them create a three-year process for the transition in which the siblings took over more and more control. She also helped them through the inevitable emotional issues and family dynamics, as well as working out who would do what. She then worked with the management team on leadership dynamics and solidifying roles and responsibilities.

Heather and Derek believe having a consultant on board has been so valuable they’ve kept Albers on as an advisory board member. “When we have disagreements on how to handle something we can bring her in and talk us through it. It’s set us up for success so that Heather and I are jiving together.”

Read more about Biffs Inc. in this month’s issue of Pumper magazine.